Northern Rivers Family of Services: Trauma Informed Care Sustainability

Northern Rivers Family of Services is the parent company of both Northeast Parent and Child Society and Parson’s Child and Family Center.  Northeast uses an ARC (Attachment, Self-Regulation and Competency) Trauma Informed Care Model of treatment, which was adopted in 2012.  Parsons implemented the Sanctuary Model over 12 years ago, embracing a trauma informed culture through all programs.   Both affiliates embrace the importance of trauma informed work and have worked diligently to create practices that foster sustainability for both models.  In support of actively promoting trauma informed care through both affiliates, champions from both affiliates recently developed a trauma informed work group.  This group is working actively through internal work groups to support staff commitment to a trauma informed approach and to the assessment of trauma including the incorporation of the ACE’s.  The internal workgroups identified include communications, training, culture, and fidelity.  The Communication Workgroup will create and disseminate materials on trauma informed care both to the internal and external community, creating tool boxes for staff to support their work and a communication system so staff from all departments can be aware of what is happening across both affiliates.  The Training group will work to infuse the core principle of trauma informed care into all trainings delivered for all staff throughout the organization, as well as explore the various media options available to disseminate information to our workforce.  The Culture Workgroup will focus on creating a culture of trauma informed care that encompasses our work with clients, our interactions with our colleagues and with other providers, while the fidelity workgroup will focus on developing tools to support line and supervisory staff in their efforts to implement practices and maintain fidelity to the original models.   As these groups develop plans and begin their journey, we will continue to share our progress.   We are excited to continue our journey and commitment to a trauma informed approach to support Children and families as they create their futures.